Northway Fellowship sues former landlord

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> Northway Fellowship, an entity associated with Northway Church, has filed a lawsuit against its former landlord Whitney Lane Holdings LLC and the Howard Management Group charging the companies with wrongful discrimination.

The legal action was filed March 3 in Saratoga State Supreme Court.

Prior to Dec. 31, the church had held services for 13 years in a nearly 30,000-square-foot space in North Country Commons, 1208 Route 146. The mall is owned and managed by Whitney Land Holdings and the Howard Group. As December drew to a close the church ended its month to month lease with the companies and shortly thereafter began holding services next door in the mall in space leased from Upstate Concert Hall, another mall tenant.

The music venue charges the church $3,200 a month for the weekly services, a savings of about $16,800 a month in rent from what it was paying.

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Upon learning of the new arrangement, officials with Whitney Holdings and the Howard Group sent Upstate Concert Hall a letter on Feb. 22 notifying them the business was in violation of its lease by allowing an activity in the space other than a bar, restaurant or music concerts. Upstate was given 30 days to cure the situation or be evicted.

In its legal filing, Northway Fellowship attorney William Nolan said Whitney Holdings and the Howard Group’s action is an example of wrongful discrimination on the basis of creed. The lawsuit added that it was also and an unreasonable restraint of business by attempting to micromanage the music hall’s business.

The filing also charged Whitney Holdings and the Howard Group with violating human rights laws and a breach of contract for withholding the church’s $20,000 security deposit for the original space it had leased.

Nolan asked for an injunction to prevent the termination of the Upstate Concert Hall’s lease saying the church will suffer irreparable harm without a place for services.

“Defendants’ (Whitney Holdings and the Howard Group) attempt to micromanage Upstate’s business operation by dictating who Upstate may or may not rent the concert venue to is an unreasonable restraint on Upstate’s business and directly impacts Northway Fellowship and its business relationship with Upstate,” Nolan wrote.

In response to the church’s request for an injunction, Judge Thomas Nolan, on March 7, issued a stay of the attempt to terminate the Upstate Concert Hall lease.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction preventing Whitney Holdings and the Howard Group from terminating the Upstate Concert Hall lease as well as damages.

Murray Carr, the attorney representing both Whitney Holdings and the Howard Management Group dismissed as untruthful the church’s claims of discrimination based on its religion and that it will have nowhere to hold its services should Upstate Concert Hall be evicted.

The move by the church to a new space, he said, was nothing more than a business deal on the part of the church.

“There was not one shred of evidence in their motion to back up their claim of religious bias. They made it up,” Carr said. “They’re claiming that Whitney’s letter to Upstate shows a bias against their brand of Christianity, non-denominational Christian beliefs. The landlord couldn’t care less. He’s a businessman. He liked having them in the mall. They were a good fit.”

Carr noted that Upstate Concert Hall’s contract with Whitney Holdings has very specific clauses. One clause prohibits the music hall from having any activity other than a bar, restaurant or music concerts. Another prevents a tenant from competing with the landlord for business. A third says Upstate Concert Hall cannot sublet or license any portion of its premises without the landlord’s consent.

“In this case that consent was never asked for and it was never obtained,” Carr said. “Northway (Fellowship) is asking the court to rewrite the lease between Whitney and Upstate.

Where Northway Fellowship claims its services are musical concerts, Carr disagrees and points to its tax exempt status as a church. As to having nowhere to go, Carr said the church can always go right back next door and the landlord has told them so.

He said the dispute over the return of the security deposit is the result of the condition of the rental space.

“Saying there is nowhere for them to hold their services is disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst,” Carr said. “The bottom line is they made a business decision to move next door and now they have to live with it. It has nothing to do with religious activity.”